Five Nintendo Franchises to Showcase Wii U's HD Visuals - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 19 June 2011 / 15,528 Views
Nintendo will finally be making the jump to HD this generation, with a platform that is much more capable than the original Wii. What will Nintendo franchises look with this new coat of paint? Outside of Zelda (thanks to a tech demo), we really don't have any clue what the titles will look like. Thankfully, Nintendo has a large and diverse back catalog of franchises with a variety of different styles. Using their incredible quality-game history, Nintendo can easily show us not only what the Wii U is capable of, but what Nintendo and its developers will be able to do with an HD system.
Pikmin
Right out the gate, this is really the only confirmed Wii U title from Nintendo, aside from Smash Bros. Originally in development for the Wii, Pikmin 3 probably would have looked fairly similar to the original titles if it didn't jump ship. Pikmin's world is based around tiny characters in large environments. This gives you an up-close look at a world in which you can get ridiculously detailed on items and objects that other titles would put minor effort into, like cans, leaves, bottle caps, and, of course, Duracell batteries. Where would Pikmin be without Duracell batteries? With the possible power behind Nintendo's next system, the amount of detail that could go into small everyday objects could be staggering. Just think of all the beautiful Duracell batteries that are possible on Wii U.
Eternal Darkness
While not exactly popular at release, Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube became quite the cult classic over time. Even today, the title can be pretty freaky if you play it under the right circumstances, thanks to the sanity meter that plays mind tricks on you, chilling voice acting, and lots of zombies. But there's one problem with this game: it's visually not pretty. At all. The title was originally an N64 title, and it shows. Even just giving the original release a whole new make-over would probably do wonders to enhance the experience. Not only that, but it help show that Nintendo can make fantastic looking M-rated titles when they want to. Of course, we would love Eternal Darkness 2, but we will take what we can get.
F-Zero
It's been so long since we've had an F-Zero game. Even if it wasn't in HD, I'm sure many Nintendo fans would welcome the franchises' return. But if it comes to the Wii U, we could only imagine what it could bring to the table in the form of visuals. F-Zero GX on the Gamecube is a fantastic looking game in itself, supporting over thirty racers in a single race. Upon closer inspection, however, you'll find that, aside from some 2D backgrounds and some basic floating models, the title greatly lacks in the population of objects on screen. Not only would it be great for Nintendo to return to a more futuristic style, but they could also add even more exciting visuals to the course designs for you to speed past.
1080 Snowboarding / Wave Race
Both of these franchises fall into an extreme sports line of games Nintendo was developing between the Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube. Unfortunately, Miis and their versatility have sort of wiped both franchises off the map. And for the most part, they're probably not too terribly missed. It's not often that you'll see Nintendo go for a completely realistic style, only including real world environments. It would be interesting to see how far Nintendo could take a realistic approach on the Wii U, and really show off what raw horse power the system has.
Metroid
If there's one title Nintendo can use to show off how improved visuals will help Nintendo's franchises, it will probably be Metroid. The sci-fi style of the game has almost limitless possibilities, and with a focus on exploration and environments, we're sure developers like Retro Studios could bring some breathtaking sights to the title. And a new coat of shiny paint may be just what Nintendo needs to give the series, especially after the fumble that was Metroid: Other M. Well, that and a mute Samus.
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Zelda HD would make me soil my pants about 5 times
I agree with Metroid and Pikmin. These should definitely show it off, but hopefully Nintendo goes all out on it.
While I would love to see all of Nintendo IPs in HD especially Super Mario World, I'd really really love to see a sequel, or prequel, or remake of Super Mario RPG
I liked Metroid: Other M. It was a big risk, and I think overall it was a good game, story-telling stumbles aside. Samus has the potential to be a really good character, and "keeping her mute" would only add to the problem I think.
I agree with Pk9394... while certain franchises like Zelda and Metroid will obviously benefit from a bump up to HD graphics, we'll probably never know the true extent of the Wii U's power from Nintendo alone, and it'll take a third party with an exclusive game or a future multiplatform release like GTA5 or something to really showcase what the Wii U is capable of.
Even going back a few generations, Nintendo wasn't the king of graphics on their own platforms. The DKC series on SNES (by Rare), games like Perfect Dark, Banjo and Conker on N64 (also Rare), and games like Rogue Squadron (Factor 5) and Resident Evil Remake and 4 (Capcom) all pushed their respective hardware in ways that Nintendo themselves never did.
Metroid Other M is a great game. The game recovered the style of gameplay that had the games before the Prime series. Metroid Prime are excellent FPS + adventure games.
Are these franchises to really show off the visuals? Or are they ones we'd like to see another installment of? ;)
I just want to see more of that sexy looking Zelda game!
Nintendo will never use these game to show off the full pontential of the Wii U, If you don't know why then you surely are in a coma during the last few generations. if I remember correctly all of Nintendo's game design are in a cartoonish way to reach out to boardest audience possible, in another word selling to the largest user range. For this reason they'll never make any of the above IP or any of their IP to become super realistic form. example you'll not see link,samus,mario look like a real person or fox's space racer look like star war racer on steriod. the only way to show off Wii U's HD visuals is for Nintendo to develop a M rated game or a 3rd party willing to take the risk and develope a M rated exclusive for it.
All NINTENDO IP IN HD WILL MAKE ME EXPLODE!
f zero would be a nice online game 30 people racing online that hot
remakes where r the ideas nintendo
I would really like to see new F-Zero - it was a great game im not sure why nintendo was disappointed but it was a really hardcore game and i played it a lot just because it was so hard, one of the favourties and i really do like hard games, Zelda and Metroid are becoming too easy for me ; Zelda has been generally left out of "hardcore" modes which is a great minus. Any SP-only game should have bonuses which makes a challenge for the actual people who want to play it more than once or twice.
I alwaays explored everything in Metroid and Zelda , im very fan of 100% game completion so i need more freaking CHALLENGE.
Super Mario Galaxy in HD would be awesome as well.
If they made Zelda HD, I would not need another game ever.
Just remake every Wii game to HD....case solved!
I want a Final Fantasy 6 remake for Wii U... ^^
Ah! Eternal Darkness! Nice idea. but heh it looked great when it released. Gamecube had impressive games.
A F-Zero return would be something too. A lot of people want this.
Zelda and Starfox would be best.
PLEASE remake Metroid Prime in HD. PLEASE!!!!
Baten Kaitos 3 in HD
An HD Metroid game of the Prime variety would make me the happiest man alive...
Samus doesn't have to be mute.
But the designers have to know, that Metriod fans have loved her for a while without any of the lame character "development" of having a past trauma that she has to over come be thrown front and center.
I would love to see a clay-style artstyle with Pikmin 3. I was always a huge fan of the stills they showcased with the clay models, and Wii U has the horsepower to make this art style a reality.
Pikmin!!!
No Mario?
No Star Fox=FAIL. Why would they include Pikmin instead?
Pikmin.......wahhhh!!!!!!
Also I found it really annoying to showcase Zelda, before Skyward Sword releases. Now I feel Wii U is promising what Gamecube promised (remember the Zelda tech demo for Gamecube?). Although gamecube offered a lot of great games (Metroid, Pikmin, Eternal Darkness, but not too many others), There was no hardcore Zelda title, nothing like the N64 interations.
Again the hate for Other M? That's boring. Next time try something new.
I would prefer that NIntendo made a whole new franchise to showcase the Wii U. Pikmin is the newest but that's more than 10 years old. Nintendo is far from the only company that milks its franchises (Sony and Microsoft as well as almost all 3rd party developers do it just as much) but I want to see something new.
what about Smash Bros? That was announced too...
Yeah, I thought about it. But, you know, every franchise would showcase visuals to a certain extent, I specifically talked about titles with styles that could really show how Nintendo could work with a certain art direction, or had something unique to it, like with Pikmin having a close up look at everyday objects... Including Duracell batteries.
Smash Bros is sort of like, everything mixed into a blender, so it felt out of place with the other titles. I mean, yeah we see everything in one title, but it doesn't really have much in its own offering since it is so heavily reliant on all the other franchises.
Completely agree with a high def F-Zero. Would love to compare it to WipEout HD!
Showcase? The next Smash and Mario game. Zelda and Metroid are also good picks. Pikmin... I don't see it tbh...
screw mute protagonists, they're a lazy excuse for even lazier writing. I can't agree withe Eternal Darkness though. What is really needed was atmosphere of some kind because, quite frankly, it just wasn't scary and the sanity stuff was irritating more than anything
Honestly Nintendo has tons of IP that would show off HD graphics really well. Lets not forget StarFox or 1080 Snowboarding. I would love to see Nintendo bring us an HD Pokemon as well.
wack....
